DECLARATION BY THE PRESIDENTS OF CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC AND THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF BELIZE TO NOT
PROCURE STRATEGIC HIGH-TECH WEAPONS, WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, AND COSTLY
WEAPONS

Over the past decade, Central America has undergone sweeping
changes. Once torn by domestic armed conflicts and the victim of Cold War
tensions, the countries in the region overcame those tragic chapters in their
history, through a sustained effort to achieve peace and strengthen democracy.
From the signature of the Esquipulas II agreements in 1987 to the signature of
the 1994 Central American Alliance for Sustainable Development and its
derivations, the region has shown unequivocal proof of its desire for harmonious
growth with justice and pluralism with equity.

The region has made significant headway in strengthening the
new security model contained in the Framework Treaty on Democratic Security in
Central America, which is based on building democracy, democratic institutions,
and the rule of law.

We, the countries of Central America, Belize, and the Dominican
Republic, share this new vision of security, which focuses on the observance,
promotion, and effective exercise of all human rights, as well as the security
of persons and their property.

In the context of this vision of democratic security and
bearing in mind the important progress made in strengthening this model, we
reiterate our Governments' resolve not to procure high-tech strategic weapons,
weapons of mass destruction, and costly weapons. We further reiterate the
decision to devote essential resources to economic and social progress to
achieve rising indices of sustainable human development.

Similarly, we reiterate our commitment to efforts to prevent
the build-up of weapons in Latin America and stress the importance of
consensus-building and implementing a process of hemispheric consultation on the
limitation and control of weapons of war.

This Declaration was signed on the sixth of November nineteen
hundred and ninety-seven.